WARNING: Images contained in the links are graphic.
London Colvin, a junior at Norfolk State University and an Army Reservist, was at an off-campus party when things got out of hand. A fight broke out, and it was a large fight, reportedly involving 35 people according to the call to police. Colvin was not involved in the fight. Colvin’s cousin, Whitney Dunn, said Colvin tried to leave the party when police stopped the woman.
Colvin refused to answer any questions about the fight, instead only saying that she was not involved. The police restrained Colvin, then turned the police dogs on her:
“Her and her friends continued to walk, and she said that she definitely continued to be loud, however, they were walking away. The two other police officers approached her—asked her to stop. Whatever the case may be, they had her down on the ground when the dog came. Two of the police officers restrained her on the ground, and then they allowed the dogs to attack her,” Dunn told Potomac Local.
Norfolk Police spokesman Daniel Hudson
said:
“We responded to a massive fight that happened in the street. Apparently there was a call for about 35 individuals who were partaking in a physical fight in the middle of the street,” Hudson told Potomac Local. “Once we have that multitude of people, we always have our canine officers respond out there with us for crowd management.”
Hudson talks about Colvin becoming ‘combative’ while police were taking her into custody.
“There was an officer that was attempting to place the woman in custody for disorderly conduct. When [the officer] tried to place her in custody, she became combative against the officer. Another officer attempted to restrain her, but again, there were multiple people around, so the canine officer deployed the dog to restrain the woman so nobody would get hurt.”
I guess the fact that Colvin was terribly hurt is of little concern.
The Root reports on the extent of her injuries:
…she was given some 40 stitches for wounds she suffered in the incident. A large open wound on her leg could not be closed with stitches, and according to Dunn, Colvin will have to have plastic surgery on the severe gash.
Even if Colvin was being ‘disorderly’, and I’m not convinced she was, I’m positive that it’s not okay for two police officers to hold you down while a K-9 mauls you. I don’t think the punishment for disorderly conduct has ever been a police dog mauling.
